By: Sharon C. Jenkins
A Texas Historic Cemetery Marker for the “Sug- arland 95” State Convict Lease Labor Camp was unveiled on Thursday, June 19th. Marilyn Moore, widow of Reginald Moore, a few “95” descendants, archaeologists, genealogists, Ft. Bend ISD person- nel, Friends of the Sugarland 95, elected officials and the public gathered to honor the 93 men, 1 woman, and 1 male youth who were worked to death at the former prison camp site.
The program’s emcee Chassidy Olainu-Alade, Fort Bend’s I.S.D.’s Coordinator for Community and Civic Engagement was heartfelt and sobering. Stirring musical performances, a poetry, memorials and vintage Black and White photos of incarcerated Black men reminded us of “man’s inhumanity to mankind.” The program ended with the historical marker unveiled by Sugarland 95 descendants and then a “call to action.” An interpretive center will be constructed at the Sugarland 95 site in the future to expand and preserve the history of convict labor leasing.
Juneteenth represents the announcement of General Orders #3 by Union soldiers on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas. But ironically, the official end of slavery in Texas was not extended to all Black men. The reason- the convict lease labor system created after the Civil War as a loophole created by White government officials and businessmen to re-enslave Black men for trivial infractions. From the late 1860s to 1912, Texas operated a convict leasing system in which the state leased incarcerated mostly Black men to private companies for labor on plantations, railroads, and mines.
The system allowed financially struggling Southern states (who now had no slave labor) to manage their growing prison population while generating revenue. Convict labor leasing was pro table for state and private enterprises, but also gained a reputation for its inhumane conditions, brutal punishments, and high mortality rates for its leased Black convicts. The late and dearly missed Reginald Moore, a former prison guard and community activist, sounded the alarm for many years about the history of convict leasing in Ft. Bend and even warned officials about unmarked burials on prison sites. He lived long enough to witness his admonition come to fruition when construction of a new educational facility resulted in the excavations of 95 Black bodies aged 14 to 70 years old. Moore left the Sugarland 95 task force in frustration after it was revealed the school district would resume construction on the site. He formed the Convict Leasing and Labor Project with fellow advocates and friends.
